Flower Pressing
by lapizlazulijavi
Summary: (Slight Spoilers for Chapter 190) Once per week, Rei Todoroki is allowed to leave the mental hospital and goes for a walk with her daughter Fuyumi. This week, they go to a park.


Once per week, Rei Todoroki was allowed to leave the sterile environment of the mental hospital she resided in and went to walk with her daughter Fuyumi, who this time brought her to a small park in the city's outskirts, due to the lack of children and other loud noises that potentially could disturb her.

Rei had appreciated the quietness, but more than anything she appreciated the scenery. Being so far away from the busy city center, the park wasn't exactly lush with vegetation nor extravagantly decorated, but it had a decent variety of flowers and a small pond at the center.

"You ended up liking this place quite a bit," Fuyumi said as the two relaxed at a bench next to the pond.

"Hmn" Rei hummed in agreement, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the breeze.

"I saw a few books in your room, may I ask what they were about?" Fuyumi asked.

"Gardening, I wanted to put a couple of plants at my window," she replied absently, making her daughter smile. It was always a joy when Rei seemed so interested in seeking ways to entertain herself, and Fuyumi remembered some small talk about a favorite flower of hers back from she was a child.

"What kind of plants do you want there?", Fuyumi asked, seemingly encouraged by the small steps her mother seemed to be taking forward.

"Hmn, haven't decided yet, maybe you can help me?" Rei smiled at her daughter. "I had thought of violets to cheer Shouto up if he comes by, or chamomile to make tea for Natsuo if he gets stressed out with exams, or maybe those peonies I used to flower-press with Itsuki…"she rambled on.

Fuyumi's expression went from uplifted to melancholic as she listened to her mother. While she appreciated that she still kept fond memories from her time with her kids, they would always would remind them of the time that would ultimately break her sanity.

"..or maybe daisies, like those that you used to ask me to make crowns with", Rei continued.

"What about a flower from here, is there anything you like?" Fuyumi asked, trying to shif the conversation from the topic of her brothers a little bit.

"Well.." Rei looked across the pond, focusing on a small patch of flowers. "Actually, your brother has already sent me pressed flowers from here. He sent me three last week only" she giggled.

Fuyumi laughed back "I didn't know Shouto was into flower pressing"

Rei sighed and gave back a melancholic smile back to her daughter. "Honey, I was talking about your older brother".

For a solid minute, Fuyumi's expression remained still as her mind processed her mother's words. Then, slowly, her face morphed into incredulity.

"Eh", for long seconds, that was the only sound that escaped her mouth, as her mind was still trying to process the information she just recieved.

" _Itsu-ni? when? how? why didn't I heard first?"_ the questions were floating around Fuyumi's head, but her throat was paralyzed and no sound made it out of her mouth.

As if reading her daughter's mind, Rei leaned forward and brushed a lock of white hair behind Fuyumi's ear and answered those unasked questions.

"He started writing shortly after that messy raid in Kamino, although his first letter was only a short apology for not contacting me in so long and a promise to get in touch more often. The flowers started arriving before the UA's culture festival," she explained while carefully arranging Fuyumi's hair.

Her daughter, however, was a little numb to her attentions.

"He-he didn't contact me" she replied, her face still frozen in a numb expression.

Rei countered with a confused gaze of her own "really, oh well, I just had assumed that he was in touch with you too" she giggled while looking back to the pond.

Fuyumi's thoughts were still racing. It had been _years_ since she last heard about her older brother, and to be honest it had been months since the last time she spared any thought about him, and even by then she had thought Itsuki had made up his mind and left the country.

He had always been a giant contradiction, he was quiet and reserved as Shouto, yet potentially tempestuous as their father, good with small crafts as their mother and Natsuo, yet passionate once he really got into something like Fuyumi.

But, much like their father, he had proven to be a narrowed minded guy, and once it seemed that he didn't want any further contact with the rest of the family, he made sure to disappear from their radar, not that Endeavor would bother to search for him anyway.

"It's getting a bit chilly, isn't it?" Rei's absent remark broke Fuyumi out of her thoughts, making her notice the first shades of orange in the horizon.

The walk back to the hospital was devoid of comments on the topic of Itsuki, shifting instead to the UA's culture festival and Natsuo's new girlfriend, much to Fuyumi's relief.

"I haven't decided on which flowers I want yet," Rei said as they reached her room.

The two remained a couple of hours talking, but Fuyumi eventually had to leave, much to her concern. She thought of asking her mother to tell her when her brother decided to contact her, but she felt like Rei would be able to tell that she was concerned, so she kept that question to herself.

About an hour after Fuyumi left the hospital, and half an hour after visits were over, Rei heard a knock on her door. When she walked over, she saw a white envelope slip under the door. She still opened, but didn't see anybody in the hallway, nor she listened to any footsteps.

Taking the small envelope, she went back to her bed and opened it, revealing a pressed white peony and a small piece of paper with a short message.

" _Sorry for the short notice. Took me awhile to find one that looked like the ones we had at home. I'm planning something special, though I'm not sure if it is gonna work. It it does, I'm going to throw a party and invite you and the little guys. It's going to be great. Take care mom"._


End file.
